Applejack 55
Applejack 55 is a flame-resistant changeling with a taste for vengeance. Prowling the town of Appleloosa, everypony best beware the burning, gasoline-perfumed gaze of the guy that Applejack 55 totally knows but actually isn't himself, because that would be silly wouldn't it? Story At the start 55 was an unassuming changeling like any other when he was forced into the ballroom with the others. Nothing much known about him, save two facts, one the fact he thought fires were quite "Preeettyyy", and two, he was one of the dumbest changelings in the room, and that was saying quite a lot. For a while, he was just another face in the crowd, nothing important save his odd tendency to get burned and his intelligence level somewhere around burnt toast. Then came the addiction. Discovering fuel At some point, he found he could set himself on fire quite easily if he used fuel. This bumped up his previously odd tick into a full on addiction, as he became more and more needing to set himself ablaze. Eventually, the other changelings had an intervention on him. This solved exactly nothing, and everyone was pretty sure he was going to kill himself at some point. Experiment gone wrong! After the Gala, Princess Celestia got it in her head to create a portal between the Empire and Canterlot in order to make travel easier. Twilight, eager to get into some Twience, agreed to that and started working on it. However, as it was unstable, they decided to do most of their testing out in the barren wasteland outside of Appleoosa, where nobody could be injured. At least, so they thought. After following them without their knowledge, 55 was caught up in a blast when one of the portal tests went wrong, and he was gifted with amazing powers! Those powers? To set himself on fire and not die. He really lucked out, to put it mildly. New job! Discovering he could set himself ablaze and not injure himself, and to some degree even control the fire, 55 decided to prowl about Appleoosa and take on any bandits he found, after being inspired by some very, very old comic books. As such, despite his horrifying and demonic-like look as he attacked them, he would always speak like a cheesy 1930's superhero. Eventually, he came to live in Appleoosa 'in disguise', which consisted of nothing more than a mustache and a comically terrible English accent. He would also vehemently deny that he and the 'fire rider/demon rider/ghost fire/other random name since he had no official one' were one and the same. Appleoosa, despite clearly seeing though it, played along, even forcing others from out of town to play along so he could think he was fooling everyone. They came to appreciate him, giving him free drinks at the bar whenever he visited, but to their surprise he never asked for anything more, or even what they gave him. He was seemingly content just to be there. New home! Needing a place to stay, 55 was 'given' an old shack out on the edge of town. Being the type to cherish everything he was given, he treasured the thing that was as big as a closet. Not only was it his, but he would later find out it was Magic! As it always made a loud banging noise and spoke to him when bandits or the like were attacking someone, and the flaming changeling that certainly wasn't him was needed. Of course, this was actually just one of the townsfolk banging on the wall, but he never caught on. Chitania attacks! When Queen Chitania was freed and went on her rampage, one town smack dab in the middle of her path was none other than Appleoosa itself, and it was mere minutes from being flattened. Heroically, he flew out to challenge her, attacking her with everything he had to try and make her stop. Alas, he couldn't even get her attention, until at the last moment he got a lucky shot in her eye, and enraged her enough to chase him. She followed him out of the path of Appleoosa, and then managed a lucky hit that only barely grazed him, but nearly killed him. All the same, Chitania had no reason to turn around, and Appleoosa was saved from certain destruction. He would spend the next few weeks recovering, claiming in his disguise that he 'slipped, while going down a mountain, in an avalanche.' Nobody questioned him, or why he didn't want a reward for what he did. They came to appreciate him a lot more after that, including one specific mare in the crowd, who looked at him a little different than the others did... Nonetheless, in no time at all he was back to saving the day. Partyland! Sometime later, he would go on vacation to Partyland, after being told by Appleoosa that he should. The townsfolk just wanted him to take a break, but he thought he had won a prize or something. Before he had left, he was given a letter by a strange redheaded mare whom he had met and saved before, but had not opened it yet, as he could not read, so he got it in his head that he had to take it to Chrysalis, specifically, to get it read, as in the past only Queens could read. He spent most of his time going on rides, or hanging out with 13 and reminiscing about how lucky this generation of changelings were to be allowed given possesions, and occasionally singing karaoke. When Fluttershy's chaos powers went crazy, he doused himself in fire and set out to protect the other civilians from the creations, doing quite a good job of it too. When Partyland fell, he wasn't worried in the slightest, and got off with the others when it landed. Aftermath Sure enough, he found Chrysalis after they were all safely off, and begged her to read the letter. Despite being injured by what had happened, she tried to tease him. It bounced right off without him understanding. Bored, she simply whispered to him what it had said. Initially, he was confused, simply not understanding what she had meant, and not believing it. Eventually, he smiled and flew off. Sometime after that, it would be revealed the mare's name was Ingrid, and her and 55 started seeing each other. 18's breakdown. When 18 was posing as Cadence in her breakdown, she asked 55 to come cover for her... by burning all the paperwork to cinders. He did that, and for the next few days battled the dreaded paperwork monster to a standstill before her return. It was during this that we learned that 18 and him had been trading messages. He would send 'reports' in the form of pictures, and she would send him notes ranting for pages on end about how stupid everyone was. Since he couldn't read, he just thought they were nice words. Cordyceps! When the dreaded Cordyceps hit, 55 was out patrolling at the time. As such, he was unaware when Appleoosa was overtaken until it was too late. Not realizing that the things attacking him were his friends, he made a mad dash through town to find Ingrid, and get her out of there. When he found her, to his horror he found her covered in the red spores and spires, and snarling like a deranged creature. In sadness, he began to wonder if his old Queen was right, that he shouldn't have anything he didn't give to her, and that this was in some way punishment for it. He asked if he gave up his pictures, and his fuel tanks and his magic shack, does that mean could he keep Ingrid, as unlike those things, she loved him back. When nothing worked, he was attacked by a large spore creature, one that destroyed his magic shack, and then sought to consume him. As it covered him, he admitted that he was dumb.. But not that dumb! He burned the creature away, snapped out of his funk, and realized he was being silly. Instead of despairing, he put a ring of fire around Appleoosa to keep anyone from wandering off, and then set out to find a cure! Cordyceps in Canterlot It took him faaaar to long to figure out that Canterlot was currently being attacked. After saving Coco Pommel and Lucky Strikes from some creatures, he remained and protected them for as long as he could. When Applejack and Chitania began their final run, he joined them, stopping projectile spore-bombs that the mushroom fired at the pair and blowing up their source, and himself with it. He was later found to be fine, and helped with the cleanup effort before heading back, and helping to rebuild Appleoosa and the places around it. And, of course, coming home to Ingrid, who understood he was feeling a bit sad because he couldn't save her, and then reassured him in a touching moment. Hearts and hooves day! He went all across Equestria to find the perfect gift for Ingrid. Visit! Chrysalis, after finding out all he did for no reward, and that he was still staying in his own shack and that he hadn't moved in with his supposed marefriend, worried that he was being taken advantage of when learning of his situation, headed down to Appleoosa in order to examine it herself. She instead found a random musical number, an understanding that he was hiding it and they played along, and finally that rather than the questionable things she had thought, it just turned out that Ingrid was staunchly traditional, and that moving in or doing something 'more' before being married was against her more conservative nature, and that she really did truly care for him. Her fears assuaged, she left, but inspired by what she had seen and how they had treated him. Reveal! When Cadence's secret came out, the citizens of Appleoosa were shocked. That said, when someone mentioned the notion that changelings were taking over, and that 55 might be an infiltrator, they all laughed the notion off, and had a big feast with the buffalo. Currently! He's finally settled on a name for his fire persona, "Firejack", he's still with Ingrid, he's still patrolling the lands around Appleoosa and making it the safest place in Equestria, and he's still the happiest changeling alive. And that last part, will never change. Personality Two phrases describe this changeling, thick as bricks, and heart of pure gold. He's not smart at all, easily fooled by simple things, and he's unable to read or write, but what he has in spades is a wholesome nature that drives him to be the hero everyone needs, even if he never gets recognition for it. His years of being drilled in that changelings aren't supposed to stand out cause him to act 'in disguise' when not saving whoever he can, but that won't stop him or make him resent anyone. He treasures every little thing he is granted. His previous Queen, before Chrysalis, did not allow changelings to have possessions, what was theirs was hers. He hated this idea, and was overjoyed when it seemed Chrysalis agreed. As such, he doesn't have much, only a shack, a blanket, some fuel cans, a whole lot of pictures and of course the sweetest pony on the planet. Though he gets money for bringing in the bandits, he more often than not spends it on others around Appleoosa who are struggling financially, with his most common recipient being Ingrid's grandmother, who runs an orphanage. He has spent a lot of time helping those ones out He might not have smarts, but he has an optimism that would let him see the sunshine in a raging fire, and that's all he needs to make it through. Powers He can set himself on fire and not die thanks to the accident. His powers are not endless, as he needs a 'jumpstart' that will eventually run out and need to be recharged. His most common method is dousing himself in fuel and simply lighting it, but as time goes on he's getting the point he doesn't need it. He uses chains primarily as his source of attack to round up baddies, as ropes would burn away, and thus often looks like a demon out of hell whenever he attacks. Trivia *Originally his main gag was that he couldn't stop setting himself on fire. *Everyone was sure he was going to be dead soon enough. *His flame powers came from an initially non-canon experiment to create a portal between the CE and Canterlot. After the idea caught on, it became canon. * His disguise skills are legendary. So legendary, in fact, he somehow convinced all of Appleoosa he's not that fire guy who shows up all the time. Really. It's someone else. They're totally convinced. * He was actually present in thread number 1. In fact, he showed up before any of the main changeling cast sans Chrysalis, but was not named till far, faaaar later. * He's currently in a relationship with an earth pony named Ingrid Marie, or Red for her friends * He was protected during Cordyceps by his fire powers. In reality, it had been lying in wait in his blanket for months. Category:Changelings